A Cardigan for Bear

I have been working on this a while, it is the first garment I have knit and I am so stupidly proud of myself!

My little Bear man loves it, and the yarn is gorgeous, 100% merino by Amy Butler. My Ravelry notes are here. I am totally loving Ravelry, and knitting! Have you joined in the thread swap foolery yet? The link is at the top of my side bar, hurry hurry!

Last of the Summer Sun

The day's are getting shorter, there is a crispness in the air that wasn't there before, and yet it's balmy, and we have had no rain. Today there was a lovely warm breeze and sunshine all day, so we all trooped outside to bask in it, whilst it lasts.

I am drawing a winner for the Skitchbook tomorrow, so get your name in the hat and leave a comment, if you haven't already.
Happy weekending to you :)

The Walk

The Bear likes to take a walk most day's. He wears his sister's boots and his favourite witch's hat.



His first stop is Saffie the horse



Then maybe a little rest





Then the searching begins....



it can take a while to find the perfect rock





Finally.....



Off he goes, carrying it proudly aloft



To show his friends, the cows. He shouts them from the fence, "Cow! Look! Cow!"



Today they are too pre-occupied to say hello, he is a little dissapointed





So he throws the stone into the field, for them to see later



and hat in hand, home he goes



Collecting a little something for his sister on his way



I am merely a casual observer on these walks, carrier of discarded hats and occasional hand holder. He leads the way, chooses the route, and decides when it is time to leave. My little explorer, and friendly one, he does love those cows so.

a Field Trip

Miss Boo and I took a wee field trip together, sketchbooks and pencils in hand, we were seeking out thistles and other wild pretties...





We talked alot about how they looked, we looked at them for a really long time...









We drew what we saw....







and admired blue skies...



Miss Boo decided that she likes drawing wild flowes rather alot, and blue skies, and field trips, and quiet sketchbook time with her mama, and I am rather inclined to agree, field trips with little ones and sketchbooks, AND blue skies, whatever could be better?

Raspberry Thieves

We have some rather lovely Raspberry canes at River Cottage, beside a sweet little blackcurrant bush. I was most pleased to make this discovery after moving in, being as we consume vast amounts of raspberry jam, and nothing tastes better than the homemade variety.

However, there are trecherous raspberry thieves on the loose. Each afternoon, upon our return from work and nursery, I visit said canes and find them quite bare, when only the previous evening I had spied plenty of sweet raspberries, almost ripe, and thought how lovely it would be to pick them the next day to make some jam.

I have looked about for possible culprits. Wee ones in tow, we looked for tracks or sneaky clues which may lead us to a vast haul of raspberries. Alas, no tracks or clues were found. Boo and Bear assure me it must be rabbits, because they are greedy animals and like raspberries very much. My wee ones even stand right beside the canes, guarding them from further ambush.

I commented upon their surprisingly red moustaches, but was assured this was merely a clever guise with which to deter said greedy rabbits and other beastly robbers of raspberries, and nothing at all to do with the actual consumption of raspberries, as one might first conclude.

I think they must be right about the rabbits, for right at the top of the canes just a few raspberries remained, and we all know small rabbits cannot stretch so high. So my single bowl of raspberries and a few blackcurrants made just 1.5 pots of jam.





The strawberries are ripening nicely too, now the sun has arrived, but Boo and Bear offered to guard them aswell, just in case the berry thief should strike again. I was assured that rabbits do no like tomatoes or peas, so these should not require guarding. Thank goodness for that, and for little guards!

* To make jam, weigh the (any) fruit and boil wih equal weight in sugar, when a set is achieved (a small blob of the jam on a plate wrinkles when pushed with finger), decant into sterilised jars and consume spread on warm buttered toast or stirred into hot porridge. Simple!

A Skirt for Boo

I have been wildly intimidated by the very idea of making clothes, despite becoming reasonably proficient with madame sewing machine.

Alas, 4 children results in copious amounts of outgrown clothing and hand-me-downs, but huge age gaps do not make for particularly handy hand-me-downs... waiting several years before they fit is less than ideal, storing several years worth of outgrown clothing is even less appealing (4 kids take up enough space as it is), so I needed to get smart on the upcycling front, and decided to invest in a wee book to help me along with making little clothes out of bigger clothes, and other handy dandy wee fabric things.

After reading oodles of reviews, I plumped for Reinvention by Maya Donenefeld.
Lots of sweet patterns in this book, far from intimidating, I got to work straight away and set about making the Gatherer Skirt for Miss Boo.

It is called the gatherer skirt on account of there being a detachable apron pocket, with which your wee one can stash gathered goodness. It was this feature that appealed to me, and yet I actually did not complete said apron pocket, because I was woefully distracted by some other more serious mothering duties, such as tackling bastard washing pile and other mundane activities. I shall, however, return to make apron pocket at earliest convenience.

I also attacked my stash, instead of using an old t-shirt. Mainly because I had no t-shirts to recycle and because I have very recently "tried" to have a fabric clear out by creating a "use it or lose it" pile, so actually no recycling took place exactly, but I do have a pile of ready to recycle clothing which will likely sit in said pile a while longer, until I muster the time, energy and enthusiasm to actually recycle them.

I let Miss Boo choose the fabrics, and she also completed the final styling. Needless to say she has a penchant for bright colour and leggings with everything. She also likes sharing her footwear with the Bear....



I am rather pleased with myself, and am now hoping to embark on much more complex and mind boggling clothing projects which may, or may not, make me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon, but I will try....right after I finish that apron pocket thingy.

A Little Break

Things are a little hectic right now in the hoola household, we have had some crazy ass weather, illnesses, too much work and of course, the constant hustle and bustle of life with 4 kids - including one very mischevious toddler.



We also lost our sweet old friend Nala, at 15 she was ready to head over the rainbow bridge, and we are all a little lost without her. Nala was around long before any of my children, my loyal friend and first class food vaccuum, AKA pig dog - I have no idea how I would have weaned 4 kids AND kept my sanity without her, Pip is too much of a fussy eater to take her place, and it is somewhat disconcerting to find myself sweeping up rice and various other spilled foods from under our dining table at meal times. Oh Nala, you will be missed, and not just for your expert food clearing abilities.



On that note, I am taking a wee blog break, just for a short while. I am still around and sneak peaking at your lovely blogs, and will comments when I can of course.
Take care sweet friends and see you again very soon :)

Magic Feather Horse

Well of course I rolled in to wish everyone a Happy New Year late, fashionably late? My new years resolution is to work on my tardiness :)

I spied a Magic Feather Horse during the holidays....



We had to ride on them of course....





Oh, and due to popular demand, I proudly present to you the first scarf I ever knitted. The faux Jack Wills scarf.





Obviously, I did not knit the Faux Jack Wills hat, this is indeed real Jack Wills, because as awesome as I try to be, I am not so awesome that I can learn to knit fairisle, indeed I have baked babie's faster than it has taken to learn to knit and purl, hence I fear fairisle knitting might be some way off, or at least until we can upload new skills into our brains, Matrix style. In which case, I would also learn Ju Jitsu and how to play chess like a bad ass, and maybe waffle making French style.

Wishing you all the very best for 2012 :)

EDIT: The prettyfull brunette is my adorable little sister Sophie, and not me!

Grandad Bob 12th September 1926 - 14th June 2011

When I was 18, I discovered you were not my biological grandfather.

It would be easy to imagine that I might have felt upset, or sad. In fact, I felt nothing but gratitude. Gratitude for the knowing and understanding that blood isn't always thicker than water. Gratitude for having learned that under whatever circumstances you came to be my grandfather, you had never treated me any different from my cousins, that you had loved me whoeheartedly.

For the last 32 years I have felt cherished and adored by you, not a day has passed that you have not called, written me a letter, sent packages of sweets for the children, sleepsuits for the baby or your favourite - random useful gifts, wooden spoons and clothes pegs, a tube of No Nails or whatever random object you deemed I may need. I have always felt touched by the throughtfulness you have shown, those small gifts meant so much to me.

My life has been so much richer for you having been a part of it. My childhood is peppered with sweet memories of our time together, I will never forget all that you were and all that you mean to me, all that you had done and all that you gave. All that I have learned from your wisdom and that which I have yet to learn from your passing.

Whilst I feel desperately sad in you leaving us, I am grateful that you got your wish, that you are no longer in pain and can join Nana Ann, finally, it's what you wanted.
Your final words to me will forever resound in my ears like a beating heart, I am so glad we had that chance, and that you left me with those sweet words for all eternity.

Thank you for the gift of love, for showing me that our hearts can weigh heavy with the same joy and affection normally reserved for those born from our own. You were everything a grandad could be, to me you were perfect.



Loving you forever XxX

A Bag for Boo

Boo moved up to the big girl class at Nursery today, and owing to some bizarre no backpack rule, a drawstring bag was required instead, and so a drawstring bag I did make.

I found an embroidered panel buried in my UFO pile, and as I had some red polka dot fabric kicking around, it was the perfect quick fix for a little bag for my little Boo. It took me a while to find the original blog post, it turns out this embroidery has been hanging around for four years!



Miss Boo is most pleased with her little bag, which will hold her blanket - or at least one of the remaining chopped up bits of her blanket, her dodo (otherwise known as a pacifier) and a change of clothes.



Apologies for the poor photos, I had to take them at night and the flash is never kind to me.

Time

In my world, there are simply not enough hours in the day right now.
Time rolls forward relentlessly at such a pace I can barely catch my breath.  I work an average 80 hours a week, as does Simon, and so it goes on, and on, and on.
There is of course some point to all this madness, but that point is not to be laboured upon here, for frankly, it is simply too long winded and perhaps not all that interesting to most folk.

When time is short, it is precious, and precious things ought to be treated with the utmost consideration and valued for all they are worth. Time is indeed precious to us right now, as a family, as a couple, as individuals. Time together and time alone. It is the time alone that Simon and I struggle to find the most. When we are not working in the literal earning money sense, we are working as a family, caring for our home and brood and trying to enjoy quality family time. There is just not much left over at the end of it all for alone time.

All that said, I am learning that it is amazing how much one can achieve when time is against you. How much you can pack into a few hours or minutes. I am learning what is really important and what is quite insignificant.
Each week I am hit by a great wall of tiredness, each week it is greater than the last and just when you think, surely it cannot get any worse, it does, and yet we carry on, of course we must.

Winston Churchill said 'When you're going through hell, keep going' and really what choice do we have? You learn how strong you are when you are required to show strength. I realise I am rambling now, the end point is this. The more tired I become the more alive and capable I feel.
 The less time I have the more I seek to find and eek out minutes here or there. In short, I am incredibly productive right now (by my own standards at least) and in some perverse way I actually relish the challenge of dragging my sorry arse out of bed each morning and telling myself that 'Today I am going to give a little bit more', I have to, and I do.
I have momentary lapses and minor meltdowns, sometimes I just head outside for a breath of fresh air and a sob, but carry on we must, and we do, Winston Churchill was a wise old bastard, wasn't he?

I came home last night at close to 10pm. I have felt a  rising sense of frustration in recent weeks over the lack of me time, specifically time to create. I try and do a little each day, but as the great wall of tiredness has become greater, I have created less and less. Last night I came home and told tiredness to get bent. I came home and set up the sewing machine and silently began sewing bundles and bundles of strips. My time, precious time, I'll take it whenever I can. Sometimes sleep is overated.



So, I made a start on the Scraptacular Quilt, a good start, and then I slept like I have never slept before. Cried like a baby when the alarm clock rang out, and got up and did it all over again. Tonight, I am sewing some more, tomorrow I will cry like a baby again when the alarm goes off, and so it goes on... It's all good though, when your head hits the pillow and you mentally tick off the To Do lists and creep a little bit closer to the end goal, all the while enjoying the little victories against time, it feels oh so good.
When this madness is over, I will never take time for granted again. Oh no.

Ambear's Cheesey Biscuits

My big girl was baking up a storm in the kitchen this weekend. She made these cheesey biscuits from  The Great Big Glorious Book for Girls - now I must say, if you have a daughter or sweet little friend aged 7-11 then I would highly recommend this book. Ambear has had it a few years now, it is battered and falling apart but she comes back to it again and again. It is filled with projects, recipes and other secret girl stuff!

Anyhow, back to the biscuits. These were super easy, an ideal recipe for kids to tackle alone with little supervision. They were very tasty and Ambear was most pleased to note that by the end of the day there was nothing left on the biscuit plate except crumbs, a true indication of success me thinks!

You will need:
100g (7/8 cup) Cheddar Cheese grated - we used extra mature because we like strong cheese
100g (4/5 cup) Self raising flour
120ml (1/2 cup) Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4/350ºF
• Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mash with a fork
• Flour your hands and surface and press the mixture out until it is about 1" thick
• Cut into rounds or shape of your choosing
• Place on an oiled baking sheet and bake for 8-10 mins until golden brown

 We had to add a little extra olive oil as it was a little too dry and crumbly to shape, I think plain flour might yield a more crunchy biscuit, so we will try that next time.

Ambear has also been busy making lots of sweet little things from Polymer Clay, she is like a child possessed and has turned out oodles of teeny tiny dolls accessories and pretty charms. These dinky little cupcakes are my favourite, isn't she brilliant?

Sometimes Smiles are Overated

These photos were taken only seconds apart, such is the changeable moods of my boy!

Happy Birthday To Me :)

It was my birthday yesterday, the first day of spring, and more importantly, the first day we have had together as a family in, oh, much too long. Simon and I usually work alternate late shifts and Saturday/Sunday, so yesterday was a rare and precious treat.

The sun was out (mostly) and a lovely day was had by all, we spent an awful lot of it outside, oh how sweet to finally be able to play outside! The cherry on the proverbial cake was indeed, the warm breeze that allowed me to hang out the washing for the first time at River Cottage.





A Birthday cake was baked by Nana - with s eggs no less, a double celebration after all!



Even the daffodils were bobbing their sunny heads at the joy of it all.



The land around us is changing now, we are really looking forward to our first summer at River Cottage. It was a very happy birthday indeed :)